Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Holland Roden About Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman

Holland Roden is no stranger to film and television. For nearly two decades, she’s brought the most dynamic characters to life on the screen. Since her breakout role as Lydia Martin on MTV’s Teen Wolf, Holland has gone on to star in projects including Channel Zero, Follow Me, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, and Mayans M.C..

This August, she steps into the shoes of Kathleen McChesney, a policewoman who was responsible for taking down Ted Bundy, in Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Holland about the film.

PC: Tell us about your character in Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman.
Holland: I play a woman named Kathleen McChesney, who was a policewoman at Seattle Police Department in the ’70s. She was essentially one of the first people to take a psychological approach to what is now called a serial killer. Back then, they were called sequence killers. I liked that this movie focused on a different perspective about Ted Bundy—that’s why I initially took the project.

On a side note, I also loved that she was a 5’2” redhead, because on TV, for whatever reason, most detectives and policewomen tend to be tall, modelesque characters. I was happy from a biased standpoint that 5’2” redheads can be cops, too. [laughs]

PC: We’ve seen this story depicted in mainstream media before. How does this film differentiate itself?
Holland: The perspective itself is what’s fresh about this. You’ve never even heard of Kathleen McChesney connected to Ted Bundy. The Catholic Church is maybe where some people have heard of her, with the arrest of all of those people over there, but as far as Ted Bundy goes, people were not aware that she was even a part of the story, which is fascinating considering how many Ted Bundy movies there have been. The people that actually caught him are not front and center, which is bizarre to me. I was happy that this project honored that.

PC: Did you feel any pressure to honor Kathleen’s legacy?
Holland: Absolutely. I liked that she was such a no-nonsense woman and didn’t let being a woman define her career or personality. When there was a sexist moment, she rolled her eyes and kept going. That’s the feeling I got from her from the few clips of footage I was able to gather. That’s how I chose to play her and how I think she would appreciate being played. That’s what she said when she did see the film. She was like, “You got everything right, but I don’t drink coffee.” [laughs]

PC: This was one of the first projects that went back to filming during the pandemic. What was that experience like for you?
Holland: It was very nerve-wracking at first. We were one of the first productions to go back into filming. It was nerve-wracking how contagious the virus was, and we felt an immense amount of pressure because we were essentially the standard of what filming would look like in this day and age. Thankfully, we were able to succeed, and that’s what we do on sets to this day, a year later.

PC: You’ve done it all in your career. What is it about independent filmmaking that excites you as a creative?
Holland: I just love telling stories. Truth be told, I would love to be a writer; writers have all the power. I just don’t have a knack for it. I wouldn’t want to professionally buy my own project. [laughs] It will probably always be a hobby for me. Storytelling is where I’m the happiest. I loved history class. When the teacher would become more animated, the happier I would get—that’s when I would become more engaged with the story being told. It’s one of the most powerful tools for communication, and that’s why I choose to do it.

PC: Of all the characters that you’ve played, which of them has had the biggest impact in your preparation when stepping into Kathleen’s shoes?
Holland: It wasn’t a project, but I read a book called To Catch a Killer a few months prior to getting this script. That woman was Robert Ressler’s right-hand woman in the ’80s. I flew out to Cape Town and met with her. I really wanted the rights to the book, but that didn’t work out. I was bummed about it because I loved the angle of her story. Lo and behold, there was another female in the ’70s, ten years prior, that was doing something very similar and was actually the trailblazer that inspired Clarice, and that was Kathleen McChesney.

It was quite ironic that those two events happened two, three months apart. When the script came in, I was like, “How is this possible? I just read a book about this. It was a very similar story, except this woman was even earlier in history.

PC: What was the biggest lesson you learned working on this film that you’ll apply to future projects?
Holland: I love stories from a new perspective. If you hear a story ten times and see the same story from a different perspective, I love movies like that. I was happy that I got to be a part of this one. I haven’t had that experience before.

Teen Wolf is a re-imagination, but as far as non-fiction goes, this is my first foray into a new perspective of something that’s been told many times. I’m excited to do that again. I love this fresh perspective, and I love non-fiction. This movie had both.

PC: What’s next for you?
Holland: I’ve filmed a couple of projects this summer that will be coming out next year. One’s called The Re-education of Molly Singer, and that was a lot of fun because it’s definitely a bigger comedy than I’ve been a part of in the past, so that was a ton of fun for me.

To keep up with Holland, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman will have its US VOD and DVD release on September 3, 2021.